US $6.5 million-humanitarian package from European Commission

The European Commission approved on Thursday a US $6.5 million humanitarian aid package to provide life-saving assistance to thousands of West Africans displaced by the eight month-old Ivorian crisis, one week after the United Nations launched an international appeal for $85 million. In a statement released on Thursday in Brussels, the Commission said the funding, which will be under the responsibility of the European Humanitarian Aid Office, will target priority areas such as food and nutrition, health, logistics, shelter and water/sanitation. While the bulk of the money, $3.8 million, is destined to populations displaced within Cote d'Ivoire, the remaining $2.3 million will go towards uprooted populations, such as returnees and refugees in neighbouring countries. The remaining $273,000 will be kept reserved, the EC said. On 29 April, the United Nations appealed to the international community for $85 million to enable its agencies in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Liberia continue to provide aid for at least the remainder of the year to over a million people who've been displaced by armed conflict. Since the beginning of the conflict on 19 September 2002, the country has been suffering from a humanitarian crisis. Western Cote d'Ivoire has however been the region the most hit due to continued fighting between the armed forces of Cote d'Ivoire and armed movements, with both of them using mercenaries. As the present "hotspot" of the crisis, the fighting has led to the death of thousands of people, displacement of populations and destruction of property including social services. By far the country's toughest challenge in 43 years of independence, the government of President Laurent Gbagbo and the three armed groups fighting his authority- the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire, the Justice and Peace Movement, the Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West- have heeded calls by the international community to implement ceasefires and political agreements to bring back peace to the country.